Stock-car.



No. 859,793. I 'PATENTED JULY 9, 1907.. G. w. WINTERS. I

STOCK GAR. APPLIUATION FILED NOV. 10, 1908- 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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gji v/wyw m: NBRRIS PETERS co, WASHINGTON. B4 c No. 959.793. PATBNTEDJULY 9, 1907.

G. w. WINTERS.

STOCK GAR.

APPLICATION FILED NOY.10,1906.

'3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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w Rm NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. WINTERS, OF WIOHITA, KANSAS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ARMlN R.FRIEDEMAN, OF GREAT BEND, KANSAS.

STOCK-GAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 9, 1907.

Application filed November 10,1906. Serial No. 342,846.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. WINTERS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Wichita, in the county of Sedgwick and State of Kansas, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Stock-Oars, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to stock cars of the type employed fortransmitting live stock and resides chiefly in providing the cars withend doors to be opened for throwing the cars into communication one withanother whereby the animals may be entered at one end of a train anddriven therethrough from one car to another, thus facilitating theloading operation, the invention further residing in equipping the carswith foldable end platforms through the medium of which the spacesbetween the cars may be bridged for insuring ready and safe passage ofthe animals from one car to another and also in providing the tops ofthe cars with openings through which prods or other implements may bemanipulated for driving the animals through the train during the loadingoperation.

The invention has for its objects to provide a comparatively simple formof door which may be inexpensively installed for use, one wherein thedoors may be conveniently opened or closed, one in which the doors willwhen in open position serve to effectually vestibule the train, and onein which the platforms may be quickly and properly manipulated and willwhen in normal, closed position serve to lock the doors in closedposition.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and efiicientmechanism through the medium of which the doors may be readily opened orclosed, and one wherein the movements of the parts will be controlled bya single operating-memberdisposed for convenient operation at the top ofthe car.

A further object of the invention is to provide an arrangement of doorsfor closing the openings whereby the doors will, when in open position,conjointly form upon the top of the car a wide, level platform on whichthe attendants may safely travel while driving the animals through thetrain.

With these and other objects in view, the invention comprises the novelfeatures of construction and combination of parts more fully hereinafterdescribed.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a'pairof cars equipped with devices embodying the invention and showing thedoors and platforms in open position for vestibuling the cars. Fig. 2 isan end elevation of one of the cars, showing the parts on a larger scaleand with the doors closed and the ings or doorways 4 adapted to beclosed by means of a l plurality of doors 5, 6 and 7, of which the doors5 and 6 are hinged respectively to the opposite, adjacent frame membersor stiles 8 through the medium of vertical pin= ions or rods 9 enteredthrough hinge members 10 and 11 and equipped at their upper ends withfixed sprocket pinions 12, the hinges 11 being fixed for movement withthe rods, while the intermediate door 7 is hinged to the adjacent edgeof door 6 by means of a vertical pintle or rod 13 extended through hingemembers l4, l5, and equipped at its upper end with a toothed pinion 16,the hinge members 15 being fixed for movement with the pintle rod 13, asin the instance of the hinge l1 and for a purpose which will hereinafterappear.

Arranged for travel on the pinions 12 and connecting the rods 9 foroperation one from the other is a sprocket chain 17, crossed as shown toadapt the rods for relatively reverse rotation, while the pinion 16 isin mesh with the teeth of a rack bar 18 fixed between its ends to thetop of the door 6 and having journaled at its inner end a guide roller19 arranged for travel in a curved guide slot or way 20 formed between apair of correspondingly curved guide rails 21 terminally attached to theframe work of the car above the door 6 J ournaled in suitable bearingson the frame work of the car and above the doorway is a verticallymovable, rotary operating' member or shaft 22 provided at its upper endwith a hand wheel 23 and having at a point between its ends a squaredportion 234 on which is fitted a pinion 24 in mesh with a gear 25 inturn fixed upon the upper end of the adjacent rod 9, there being fittedon the portion 23 of the shaft 22 near its lower end a worm 26 in meshwith a worm gear 27 fixed on a rotary druln shaft 28 extendedhorizontally across the car above the doorway 4 and journaled at itsends in suitable bearings 29.

Journaled at 30 on the sill 3 to swing in a vertical plane toward andfrom the end of the car is a platform 31 provided at its ends and inline at its upper edge with perforated ears 32 adapted, when theplatform is folded,-

to seat over keepers 33 in the form of staples fixed on the car frame inposition to receive the lower ends of vertically movable locking membersor bolts 34 slidably disposed in bearings 35 and engaged at their upperends with flexible operating elements or cables 36 in turn engaged attheir upper ends with a hand piece or ring 37 through the medium ofwhich both elements may be actuated for effecting a simultaneousmovement of the locking bolts, it being noted that one of the elemeiitsis led over suitable guide pulleys 38 to its point of engagement withthe ring 37 which may be normally engaged with a suitable supportingmember or hook 39 fixed at the top of the car. It is to be observed inthis connection that the bolts 34 serve to lock the platform in normal,vertical, edgewise position and that the platform, when in suchposition, stands in front of and in contact with the outer faces of thedoors for maintaining the latter in closed condition.

Engaged at their upper ends with and to be wound upon suitable drums 40provided adjacent the ends of the shaft 28 is a pair of flexibleconnections preferably in the form of chains 41 having their lower endsengaged with the outer edge of the platform 31 and respectively atpoints adjacent the ends of the latter, the chains being arranged fortravel between their ends over guide rollers 42 journaled in bearingsfixed to the framework of the car, it being understood that when theshaft 28 is rotated in one direction the chains will be wound on thedrums for raising the platform, while a reverse rotation of the shaftwill unwind the chains for lowering the platform to horizontal position.

Provided in the top of the car, which is equipped as usual with acentral, longitudinal footboard 43, is a series of openings 44 arrangedin two rows at opposite sides of the footboard and spaced in a directionlongitudinally of the car, said openings being surrounded by marginal,upstanding frames 45 and adapted to be closed by trap doors 46 hinged attheir inner edges as at 47 to the frames and adapted when opened toswing inward to a horizontal position and rest at their outer edges onthe footboard 43 whereby the trap doors will conjointly form a wide,level platform on which the attendants may travel while prodding theanimals, through the openings 44, to drive them from one car to another.

In practice, when arranging the cars to be loaded, the ring 37 isgrasped and upward traction exerted on the flexible connections 36 towithdraw the bolts 34 from the keepers 33 and release the platform,after which the operating shaft 22 is rotated from left to right,thereby serving through the gear connections 26, 27, with shaft 28'torotate the latter in the direction for unwinding the chains 41 andlowering the platform. During the operation of the shaft 22 the pinion24 will act upon gear 25 for rotating the adjacent rod 9 to swing thedoor 5 outward, motion being transmitted from said rod to the other rod9 through the medium of the chain 17, thereby swinging the door 6outward to open position. As the door moves outward the rack bar 18will, owing to the roller 19 traveling in the curved guideway 20, becarried to the position seen in Fig. 3 and will, during its movement,act upon the pinion 16 for rotating the rod 13 and folding the door 7inward against the inner face of the door 6, it being understood, ofcourse, that a reverse rotation of the operating shaft 22 will changethe direction of rotation of the rods 9 and 13 to close the doors and atthe same time rotate the shaft 28 in the proper direction for windingthe chains 41 and raising the platform 31. Should it prove desirable atany time to close the doors without moving the adjacent platform, theshaft 22 is moved vertically upward for carrying the squared portion 23thereof out of engagement with the worm gear 26, whereby of engagementwith pinion 24, whereupon the worm 26 I alone will turn with the shaftand the pinion 24 remain I idle. When the doors and platform areto bemoved ed simultaneously the shaft is adjusted with its squared portionin engagement with both the pinion and worm gear, as will be understood.It will be observed that the door sections when moved to open position,as in Fig. 1, serve to vestibule the cars, thus to insure safe travel ofthe animals from one car to another, and further that the platformswill, when lowered, properly bridge the spaces between the ends of thecar, thereby forming floors for the vestibules and enhancing the safepassage of the animals from car to car. Furthermore, it is apparent thatan entire train of cars may, under this construction, be loaded byentering the animals at one end of the frame and causing them to travelfrom car to car, in which operation the attendants on top of the carsmay manipulate suitable prods through the openings'44 for driving theanimals through the train.

It is to be understood that while the invention is described herein foruse especially on cattle cars, it is equally adaptable to other freightcars to facilitate loading thereof with lumber, rails, ties and thelike. Also it will be understood that the doors will be maintainedproperly closed by the platforms 31, and furthermore in the event of thedoor operating mechanism becoming disordered the doors may beconveniently opened by hand.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A car having a doorway, a plurality of doors for closing the same, apair of said doors being hingedly connected one with the other, andmeans adapted when one of said pair of doors is moved to open positionto fold the other door thereagainst.

2. A car having a doorway, a plurality of doors for closing the same, apair of said doors being hingedly' connected one with the other, andmeans including a rack and pinion connection adapted when one of saidpair of doors is moved to open position to fold the other doorthereagainst.

3. A car having a doorway, a plurality of doors for closing the same,means including a rod or pintle for hingedly connecting a pair of saiddoors one with the other, said pintle being fixed to and for swingingone of the doors and adapted for rotation relative to the other, apinion fixed on said pintle, a rack in mesh with the pinion and adaptedfor movement with one of said pair of doors and to act with the pinionfor folding the doors relatively one upon the other.

4. A car having a doorway, a plurality of doors there for, means forsimultaneously opening and closing the doors, a platform hinged to foldup against the outside of the doors when the latter are in closedposition, bolts on the car adapted to lock the platform in raisedposition, flexible elements connected with the bolts, pulleys on the carfor guiding the elements, and a common means for simultaneouslyactuating the elements.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE W. WINTERS.

Witnesses: I

Jos. Tnolusox, CL. WILcKnNs.

